ic contact - pines

[coy]

[ voice.]

"You've reached Caroline Forbes.
I'm not home right now.
Please leave your name and number and a
very detailed message and I'll get back to you
as soon as possible."

Comments

[coy]

How do you know what this place is capable of? [ She looks at him because the sinking feeling in her stomach is telling her that what he's saying could be true but her point does still stand.] Since day one, this place has been messing with us and right now, we've been messing with it. Maybe it's punishment, a threat or something. [ She doesn't question how they did this via dreams but...]

So you're saying there's more that we don't remember, that we have stuff that happened that we haven't remembered yet?

[unforgivably]

Maybe. Or, I went back. [ In one night. ] The last thing Katherine remembers is our road trip, way before Tyler was possessed. And you remember Tyler, and Stefan and your Freshman year of college, which is two behind Stefan and me. Which was. [ For him. He looks at her, eyes down, back up, keeping back what he knows, who she is. That Stefan here isn't like Stefan at home and that's a good thing. ]

[coy]

In one night, [ she says flatly, because she doesn't believe that part. It would be easier to believe if it had been days or years, maybe but in one night he lived years? This place was crazy but that level of magic... well, it wasn't impossible but still...]

Okay, so what happened?

[unforgivably]

Cliff's notes version? Stefan and I finally rid ourselves of a vampire Huntress with nine lives, only to transfer her killing machine efforts to Bonnie. Then, we saved Bonnie but I became a slave to a Siren, who, apparently worked for the devil himself. There's more, and there's a lot you won't like. Spoilers.

[coy]

[ A siren? Like the kind that leads sailors to their deaths? Okay, that sounds like one crazy dream but she's humoring him now, she doesn't believe he went home. Sorry, Damon. This place is whack.]

Okay, what else then?

[unforgivably]

[ He sighs. ] I have it now, but, I turned off my humanity. I had to, to feed the devil the souls he needed and - [ He's not proud. ] I roped Stefan into it, who also turned off his humanity. It's why I went to him first, because, from what I remember, the last thing I remember is Stefan is still without his. [ His mouth drops open, but ] He has it here. He hasn't lived that. He's still from what I remember before.

[coy]

Okay-- [ She holds up a hand, trying to look sympathetic as she stops him.] Step back and think about how insane that sounds, Damon. All of it. The devil? You were working for devil? Doesn't that sound insane? [ Her brow furrows as she takes a step closer.] It has to be some crazy dream, Damon. [ Because how can it be real?] Have you told Stefan? What did he say?

[unforgivably]

He's skeptical, like you, but that's why I'm here. I know how it sounds. But, how is this any different then what Stefan and me both know to be true, that you don't? Try me for anything else. It will sound insane.

[coy]

I'm sorry but... the devil? Damon... [ she sighs, arms crossing over her chest as she closes her eyes and takes in another breath.] Okay, so... we're assuming that there's a whole future that none of us can remember? So one night Stefan or me or Katherine will wake up with new memories? That this just part of it? Why did it come back so fast? So suddenly?

[unforgivably]

Well, Katherine's memories will end. [ She's dead. ] But, yes. That's what happened.

[coy]

[ The look she gives him is again, flat as a board.] What else happened, Damon?

[unforgivably]

Bonnie's in love. With a vampire named -- [ He tracks when she's from, pursing his lips. He sighs. ] A different more romantic, humanity-filled Enzo. [ AKA the one who terrorized Elena and Stefan and tried to ruin everyone's life - and part of the reason for what went down with Stefan and Tyler, technically. ] Keep in mind, this is years later and they spent the better part of a year in a cabin alone together to keep Bonnie hidden. I was as surprised as you when I found out about their connection. But, it's real. She loves the guy and he's going to take the cure for her. [ Which is what he's trying to do, explain real details, except -- His mouth stays open, head shaking back and forth as he pinches the bridge of his nose.] The cure came back into play thanks to a prison world, which, you haven't heard about yet. Think like the Other Side, except made especially for a specific person or set of persons - like my mother. Our mother. Stefan and I's. But, that all happened before I dreamed more. This is more colorful context. The point is, Bonnie's found her guy. And I couldn't be happier for her, because she deserves everything. She's sacrificed enough for us. [ A second as his eyes find her again, jaw setting. ] So have you.

[coy]

[ That is so much to unpack. And it doesn't help that her memories are still coming in, a bit fuzzy. Enzo pops into her mind finally and she almost staggers as she remembers a whole history with a person and then finds out her best friend is in love with him.

Stranger things have happened, she thinks. ] Your mother? But I thought your mother died... [ Of course, when he goes on, she looks at him, a sinking feeling hitting her.]

What does that mean, Damon...?

[unforgivably]

[ He can get back to their mother, the Ripper.

Gravely, he draws his lips together. ] It means things aren't good right now, Caroline. Not for any of us. [ Not for her, not really. Not with Stefan like he is. Unlike the Stefan here. ]

[coy]

Seriously? [ She looks annoyed now because... well, she is. She folds her arms over her chest and just gives him a look, one he should know well.] Enough with the vague-ness. It's not only annoying but it's exhausting. Why can't you just come out and say it? Is that bad?

[unforgivably]

It's bad, Caroline. I just stopped Stefan from letting Matt Donovan light up the sky with Hellfire from an actual Hell's bell. Cade wants souls, and he wants Stefan and me to provide for him. We might lose him, Caroline.

[coy]

Who is Cade? [ She shakes her head.] What are you talking about? Hellfire? Are you saying that Cade is the devil you were talking about? As in the actual devil...

[unforgivably]

Actual. Granted, it's a lot less biblical and more, burned at the stake for being imperviously psychic, but, his calling card is running hell itself. [ And he says it truthfully, not like he doubts it, but for what it is. ]